 In 1945, the Japanese troops based in korea surrendered to the soviet Russians in the north

of the country and Americans to the south.

 38th parallel was a border between the north korea and the south korea
- How did the UN become involved?
 The UN had been closely associated with the establishment of south korea
 The united states along with the united nations decide to take a stand, if
communism was allowed to spread in korea, they feared it would only spread to
close countries such as Japan
- USA’s reaction to the north Korean invasion
 President Truman believed that fighting the invasion was essential to the American
goal of the global containment of communism as outlined in the national security
council report 68
- Why did the north korea invade south korea in June 1950?
 Kim il-sung wanted to unite korea under communist rule.
 Kim had the support of both of the soviet and Chinese leaders, Stalin and Mao
Zedong.
 North Korea’s armed forces, supplied with tanks, heavy artillery and planes by the
soviet.
- Effect of the Korean war for the UN
 The UN had failed in its objective independent and democratic government for
korea
 The massive involvement and influence of the USA made it look more like an
American action than one by the UN
- Result of the Korean war for the USA
 The US containment policy had been successful; the spread of communism into
south korea has been prevented
 The UNO action over Korea showed that it was more purposeful than the League Of
Nations had ever been.
Cuba
- Treaty of paris
 A treaty that ended the Spanish-American war
 The American’s victory meant that they gained influence and some measure of
control over Cuba
- Guantanamo Bay
 the United States took control of Guantanamo Bay and made it an important base
for the US navy.
- How did the tensions develop between cuba and America?
 In 1959 cuba underwent a revolution. The unpopular regime of president batista
was overthrown by the revolutionary fidel Castro. Castro promised to restore power
in cuba.
- Us reaction to the Cuban revolution
 Economic sanctions: stopped the trading with Cuba and refused to buy Cuban raw
materials and sugar.
 Refused economic assistance
 Destabilize/overthrow castro government
- Bay of pig invasions
 The CIA in the USA formed a group in Florida which comprised of ex-politicians from
Cuba who were exiled.  The aim of this group was to take over Cuba from Castro.  In
1961, the new President of the USA, Kennedy pushed for the invasion of Cuba by
these exiles that were being trained by CIA personnel in Guatemala.  They were all
so confident that the Cubans in Cuba would support then and praise them. 
 - Failure of the plan
 The bay of pigs was a disaster. America failed in both objectives: Castro was not
removed and USA had to admit the responsibility for the attacks.
Why did it fail?
 Poor secrecy
 Failure to control the air: the air strikes missed many of their target
 Failure to gain support
 Response: castro ordered 20 000 troops to advance towards the beach and the
Cuban air force continued to control the skies.
- The Cuban missile crisis
 the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in 1962 when the Soviet Union began to install
nuclear missiles in Cuba
15 October 1962: secret U2 spy planes take photographs of the missile launchers in Cuba
September 1962: first nuclear missiles arrive secretly in Cuba.
July 1962: America begins military training exercises in the Caribbean, seen by some as preparations
for another attempted invasion
July 1962: soviet advisers tell castro that America is planning another attempted invasion of Cuba.
April 1962: America placed nuclear weapons in Turkey
7 February 1962: the USA impose an embargo against cuba. Kennedy banned all trade with Cuba.
- Why were there nuclear missiles in cuba?
 Political reasons
 Military reasons
- What options did kennedy have?
 Do nothing
 Full ground invasion
 Air strikes
 Naval blockade
 Threaten castro
 Diplomatic measure
- How close was nuclear war?
 22 october: Kennedy announce discovery of the missiles to the public and decision
to quarantine island
 23 october: kennedy had air force prepare for attacks on cuba
 25 october: kennedy raised military readliness to DEFCON 2
 26 october: Khrushchev sends letter proposing removal of soviet missiles
 21 october: a U-2 spy plane is shot down over cuba
 28 october: Khrushchev announced return of missles to the USSR
- Khrushchev 1st letter(26 oct): removal of soviet missles from cuba, no more missiles would
be sent, US- not to invade cuba again, US to lifted blockade to cuba
- Khrushchev 2nd letter(27 oct): US should remove its missiles from turkey
- Result of this crisis?
   Khrushchev claimed that he had achieved his aim of preventing the invasion of Cuba
by America
     Kennedy was praised for avoiding war both at home and worldwide.
 Cuba remained a Communist nation and was still dependent on Soviet aid
Vietnam
 17th parallel: The partition that separates the North and South Vietnam
 In November 1963, president Diem was overthrown by a military coup and later in the
same month president Kennedy was assassinated.
- Main events of the Vietnam war
  February 1965: operation rolling thunder- bombing of north Vietnam started that
targets the Ho Chi Minh trail
 March 1965: the first American combat troops were sent to Vietnam
 January 1968: the tet offensive- a large scale communist attack on major towns and
cities in south Vietnam.
 March 1968: a group of American soldiers were searching for Vietcong. They landed
by helicopter close to the village of My Lai
 October 1968: operating rolling thunder finished. More bombs have been dropped
on North Vietnam than were dropped by the US on Germany and Japan during WW2
(Vietnamisation started that was introduced by president Nixon)
 1970: president Nixon attacked Cambodia to prevent the Vietcong from using it base
 1973: a ceasefire agreements was signed
- Strategy used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam war
 Ho Chi Minh based the Vietcong guerrilla warfare strategy
- Features of Vietcong guerrilla warfare
 Guerrilla fighters did not have a base camp
 They did not wear uniform
 They used element of surprise
 They ambushed American troops
 Set booby traps using trip wires and mines
- Impacts
 Reduced the morale of the American troops whose average age was 19
 Increased the number of American casualties
- Strategy used by the usa during the Vietnam war
 Bombing
 Chemical weapons
 Strategic villages
 Search and destroy

- What other problems did the Americans face during the Vietnam war?
 The use of inexperienced troops
 Low morale
 Declining support in south Vietnam
 Aid from Asian countries
- Why did the usa withdraw from the Vietnam war?
 the tet offensive was a major turning point on the war that made people question
the cost of the war. In response, the my lai massacre happened which caused more
effect riots and disapproval in America, and disagreement from the Vietnamese.
With loss of morale , disagreement from public, and thousands of lives lost
- Results of the war
 Within two years of the end of the war, south Vietnam fell to the communists, as did
cambodia and laos. During 1975 communist troops took south Vietnam including the
capital, Saigon. During 1976 north and south Vietnam were reunited as a single
communist ruled by ho chi minh.
Hungarian resistance to soviet power
- Causes of the rebellion
 Politics
 Repression
 Religion
 Economics
- Reason for changes
  In June 1956 workers in Poland had risen against Soviet rule and demanded change.
After a tense few weeks, Russia had given in to some of their demands. This gave
people hope in Hungary that the same would happen there
 Hungarians Thought that the UN or Eisenhower would help them after he made
supportive comments in speeches
Resistance to soviet powe
 Pro-Soviet communists seized control of Czechoslovakia’s democratic government
in 1948.
 In January 1968, Novotny was replaced as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek
- Prague spring
 Czechoslovakia had been a communist country, controlled by Moscow, sincethe end
of World War Two.
 In 1968 the Czech people attempted to exert some control over their own lives and
reform the communist system to create ‘socialism with a human face’
- Ignition of the prague spring
 Weak economy
 Lack of personal freedom
 Thought the usa would support them
- Response
 Soviet forces Dubcek out of power and re-establish control of Czechoslovakia
 They fear that other satellite states might follow
 Soviet leaders worried of the increasing reforms in Czechoslovakia
- Brezhnev doctrine
 Concerned that the new ideas formed by Czechoslovakia would spread
- His policy
 A one-party system in each country
 All countriws were to remain members of the warsaw pact
Berlin wall
- Background
 The berlin wall, which stood between 1961 to 1989 was built by the German
Democratic republic during the cold war to prevent its population from escaping
soviet-controlled east berlin to west berlin
- Why were people leaving from east to west?
 To improve living conditions and opportunities
 Political reasons
Collapse of the soviet empire
- The role of other countries
 Poland: Poland solidarity movement paved the way for later democratic reforms
 Hungary: parliament passed a ‘democracy package’ after the 1956 uprising
 East Germany: Gorbachev’s visit to east Germany inspired the government there to
repress a popular movement
 Romania: leader Ceausescu ordered protesters to be fired upon and forced to flee
Gorbachev’s policies
 He was a former president of the soviet \
 Tackle corruption and alcoholism
 Attempting to modernize the soviet union’s economy
 Reformed the country

- Glasnost
 More freedom for the media, allowing news to be transmitted of government
corruption
  It aims is to referring “openness and transparency”, a commitment of the
Gorbachev’s administration to allowing soviet citizens to discuss publicly
- Perestroika
 Led to a series of economic, political, and cultural reforms that aimed to
make the soviet economy a more modern and efficient
- Collapse of soviet union
 His decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and create a
presidency for the soviet union began a slow process of democratization that
eventually destabilized communist control and contributed to the collapse of
the soviet union